L4 and Precept (Inductive) Bible Studies.
Comments
-
Joan Korte said:
Sharon, please mention where you work in your original language/lexica studies. D.A. Carson on Exegetical Fallacies is a great read and does destroy eisegesis along with illegitimate totality transfer-a very common error. (You know, my chosen hermeneutics has a more pneumatic thrust. Lately discovered). And could you mention where you work in your commentaries? Yes, that would be great. I think if someone were to read this thread as is (and maybe I am way wrong) they might wonder why we have such large, fantastic libraries. Happy Spring!
Here is a quick little skeletal outline of the pattern of some of the steps: (not all inclusive)
Overview - Observing the text as a whole, over and over again, noting key repeated words or phrases, perhaps on a notecard.
From the overview, segments are discovered. (i.e. Romans 1:1 - 3:20; 3:21 - 5:21; 6-8; 9-11; 12-16) Each one of these segments now becomes a "whole". (i.e. Romans 1:1-3:20). There is not always one right way to divide a book. Some books are easier than others to discern and observation is the tool to use - not anything externally yet. These segments each have a theme and each of their themes relates to the theme of the entire book. Simply put, Romans is about the Gospel of God, salvation. Each of the segments must belong part and parcel to the theme of the entire book. (Romans 1:1-3:20 - the need for salvation; Romans 3:21-5:21 - the way of salvation; Romans 6-8 - the life of salvation; Romans 9-11 - the Godward aspect of salvation; Romans 12-16 - the service of salvation)
Beginning witht the first segment (Romans 1:1-3:20) - treat it as a "whole" and do another overview on it, discovering segments within the segment through the identification of key words and phrases particular to the segment in view. Each part must ultimately reflect the theme of their segment and the theme of the whole book.
1. From: Paul 2. Parenthetical insert about the Gospel 3. To: All who are beloved of God in Rome 4. Prayer of thankfulness for the faith of the beloved in Rome 5. Paul's obligation to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles 6. God has made Himself evident in each person-each person without excuse! 7. God gave them over to impurity 8. God have them over to degrading passions 9. God gave them over to a depraved mind.
Then ask reasoning questions concerning how this section relates to the segment it is in, remembering of course, how the segment relates to the whole of the book.
Do likewise with the rest of the segments throughout the book of Romans. (Romans 3:21-5:21; 6-8; 9-11; 12-16)
Still no commentaries or word studies, but many questions will be arising from the overview process of observation. Information regarding author, recipient, theme, purpose, other characters, historical context, etc. are being discovered internally and noted.
Once the overview is completed, the overall structure of the book is determined by putting the parts back into the whole.
Now once again, start with the first segment (treated as a whole) (Romans 1:1 - 3:20) and take the first section (Romans 1:1) of the first segment and treat it as a whole. The first section of the first segment might be a paragraph or larger. Take this section and investigate it thoroughly, treating it as a whole. Interogate the section the same way you did with the entire book, its segments, and now sections of each segment. Break it into parts as you did with the previous parts. The pattern will be "whole-part-whole" right down to the parsing of a verb. But notice the pattern does not stay at the part level. Each part must be returned, along with its companion parts, to the whole from which it was derived. And that whole must be returned, along with its companion wholes to the whole from which they were taken. Until the entire book is put back together.
What are the parts of of the first section (Romans 1:1) of the first segment (Romans 1:1-3:20)? You find out by asking it questions, the same way you have been observing since the beginning of studying Romans. You would ask questions like: "Who wrote the book of Romans? Who is Paul? What three things does Paul say about himself? Who is Paul's master? How did Paul come to be an apostle? For what one thing is Paul set apart? Who has sent the gospel?" The answers must come from the text itself. At this stage you must learn to ask the text only questions that it can answer.
At this point your smallest section has become a whole and guess what you do? Yep! You break it down into parts, and those parts are words and phrases. This is when your lexical aids come in and you can do all the word studies you want to your heart's delight. This rule must be followed though, because word studies can turn into gopher trails that take you in a direction away from your context: When you dig down deeper into a word study, you MUST come back up through the same hole you went down into. You must keep your word study in context to the passage you are studying. A word study will never contradict the clear meaning of a passage as revealed by its context. It can colorize it, it can clarify it, it can even spice it up, but it can't change it or contradict it. Context rules-period.
As the whole part whole pattern continues, you can still break it down a little further, and that would be to say, parse a verb. The word itself becomes a whole and you examine its parts - mood, voice, tense. But again, they must all be put back into their proper and original place in the context.
Before you leave a section in a segment (in this case Romans 1:1), you finally are at the point where commentaries are needed. Go to as many as possible and check out what the authors have to say. Line them up with the Word, and let them line you up with the Word. This is important - do not line yourself up to them, but use them to line yourself up with the Word. Does that make sense?
Follow the simple pattern throughout each and every segment, section, passage, phrase, word, and part of a word, continually putting each part back into its place. There are many other parts to inductive study, of course. This is just an attempt to show at which point lexical aids and commentaries are used. I didn't even mention cross-referencing, for example. Or the absolute necessity that you preface your study with prayer and continue throughout. The Holy Spirit's part is a unmovable given in all of this - even to knowing which book He wants you to study (i.e. which book He wants to teach you). All the other steps are interwoven into the repeated pattern of whole-part-whole.
If I had to choose between Logos and my Bible, I would choose my Bible hands down without hesitating a nano-second, (even knowing there are a plethora of Bibles in the Logos software.) Those large, fantastic libraries we have are greatly helpful, but to be honest, they are not necessary. His Word is sufficient.
wordcenterministries.org
0 -
Hi Sharon,
I am convinced you could write a book on how to do IBS with all the years of insight and experience you have. Interestingly, I keep going back to Fee and Stuart and their Handbooks on Exegesis for Greek and Hebrew, respectively. Logos offered them as Libronix resources for a time but no longer. I did develop a couple of mind maps so that I could see the workflow for Greek on one page and Hebrew on one page. Very similar steps and what a help the maps have been to me as I study! How what they demonstrate for exegesis and what you posit for IBS "fit" together-I don't know. I would have to believe they flow together in some ways...Thank you for your lengthy descriptions.
0 -
I was referred to this thread, yesterday and I'm glad I followed up! [:D] This is proving to be a treasure trove of insight.
Let's see, if I'm understanding the Observation Phase correctly.
- Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to open my eyes to what is in each chapter or book.
- Open up a Bible and read.
- As I read, ask question of both the text of Scripture and the Holy Spirit. (the 5 W's & H)
- Highlight texts, as needed and jot down notes
- Repeat the above an x # of times.
I had thought I was supposed to use commentaries when doing this. Hence, I have a saved layout with a bunch of commentaries in one resource pane and my NASB in a seperate resource pane. Due to vision impairment, I use Logos 4 to help with reading my Bible, how can I best set up to do the Observation phase correctly?
0 -
I typically use 3 panes on a wide screen monitor, a NASB in upper left linked to an interlinear ESV below (goes all the way across screen) and an unlinked 2nd NASB (in upper right) for referance scriptures. My tabs support Websters dictionary, Strongs dictionary, New Treasury of Scripture References, a map, my notes, and a commentary. I check the commentary last. I probably should have a good secular (because this is inductive) history book tab for background information, but have not found one yet...
0 -
Nicholas B Brindisi said:
I had thought I was supposed to use commentaries when doing this.
No commentaries during observation phase. Its all about you reading, asking questions of the text and making notes on you see. Later on you might use a commentary to help you answer some of your questions that you identify during this phase.
0 -
Nicholas B Brindisi said:
how can I best set up to do the Observation phase correctly?
Hi Nicholas,
Try this set up and see what you think:
0 -
You can also check out Morris Proctor's "Inductive Bible Study with Logos Bible Software". He gives you at least three ways to set your Logos program up to study inductive style. It's been very helpful to me.
0 -
Joan Korte said:
(...) I did develop a couple of mind maps so that I could see the workflow for Greek on one page and Hebrew on one page. Very similar steps and what a help the maps have been to me as I study! How what they demonstrate for exegesis and what you posit for IBS "fit" together-I don't know. I would have to believe they flow together in some ways...Thank you for your lengthy descriptions.
could you share your mind maps?[:)]
Romulo Corrêa
Brasília - Brazil
0 -
Yes, but I have to find them first, as it has been awhile. [:)] They are based on Stuart and Fee-OT and NT Exegesis books.
0 -
" [Kay] Arthur didn't invent Inductive Study, although she might as well have <GRIN>. " Well, she didn't invent it because a MAN invented it...LOL...so she might as well have NOT. I like her book though, I wish it was available in Logos format
0 -
Mind maps are a headache to me. I returned the i-mind map software that I had because it wouldn't really show it right on power point. Plus you had to create your presentation on Large format and it was a pain in the neck doing that. So I just try to do "hand written" mind maps when I can instead of software one. I wish I had a decent software for mind mapping but they're all too expensive.
0 -
Giovanni Baggio said:
because it wouldn't really show it right on power point
I've not had this problem with Inspiration 9 ... the fourth version of the produce I have used.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
0 -
Sharon said:
My experience has been that it is far more than "many", but rather most, and a very bloated mos,t at that, who only "study" the Bible through a book "about" the Bible.
I am glad this thread was bumped. What Sharon said is so true. There is even an active thread titled "search that excludes scripture?"
Now, I'm sure there may be a logical reason for wanting to search in that way. But the concept makes me tremble.
~
0 -
Abi Gail said:Sharon said:
My experience has been that it is far more than "many", but rather most, and a very bloated mos,t at that, who only "study" the Bible through a book "about" the Bible.
I am glad this thread was bumped. What Sharon said is so true. There is even an active thread titled "search that excludes scripture?"
Now, I'm sure there may be a logical reason for wanting to search in that way. But the concept makes me tremble.
A simple reason is because you might wish to search your Library, on something, but do a Bible search seperatly. I often search something in a Bible search, then search the rest of my library for the same word or phrase. I don't want my Bible search duplicated in the library search (this provides a way to keep search hits manageable). It doesn't mean the person is or wants to ignore Scripture. I personally like to keep my Bible search separate from my searching of books about the Bible. I study Scripture first, and only then do I look at the secondary literature. So having two search windows, one with a Bible search, the second with all my library resources except Bibles is a way to keep the Bible and secondary resources separate.
0
